The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY. OCT. 14, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2848, 14 October 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY. OCT. 14, 1890.

The Labour Conference which has been sitting recently at Wellington has come to an end and has terminated in futility as was generally anticipated, ever since the resolution setting up the Conference was carried. What possible advantage could be derived from such a Conference was the question that arose in tlie public mind, and the deliberations of that body have supplied tho answer—none whatever. The only delegate representing Capital at the Conference was the Hon. George McLean, of the Union Steamship Company, who adhered to the position the Company had assumed from the i-.utset, that they declined to submit to any dictation, 'on the grounds of employing union or non-union labour. We cannot understand how any reasonable body of men could expect that he would concede the point, especially in the face of the ex ?ess of freo labour offering. Had ho done so, the Company would have been at the mercy of its employees, to become a toy to be played with at the eaprice and whim of socialistic agitators. No concession was made by either side, and the position of affairs is the same as it was before the Conference sat.

The strike may now be said to be at an end. Although other employers were affected by the dispute, the Union Company were really the body against whom the attack was directed. Tho Company, although temporarily inconvenienced by tbe action of their servants, have now more labour offering than they require. Their boats are efficiently manned, the different steam services are regularly sustained, and the public have the same facilities for transit as they had before the strike began. The strikers are out of employment, and their places are filled by others.

The recent strike, is not without its lessons which both sides will do well to take to heart. In any future labour agitation that may occur, the strikers ought to make sure that they have tho sympathy of the public with them. In* oriler to (lo this they must take cure that tho trade and commerce of the country is not materially affected by their notion. The leaders of the Labour Party sadly fail in guaging public opinion if they think the whole community will patiently submit to expense, inconvenience and serious loss in business because a certain section of labourers consider they have a grievance. During tho recent strike the whole population has been more or less seriously affejted. All the necessaries of life have risen in value, and the cost of living has increased. Coal has boon imported into a country, were it is ready to hand, because miners have refused to work. Supplies have been short, because labourers have refused to unload cargoes. Goods ready for export have been left to depreciate in value, because the lumpers were on strike. Intercolonial uud intcrprovincial trade has been partially paralysed, and worse than all, the trade of the colony has been reduced in volume to such an extent that instead of having a surplus at the end of the financial year, as was anticipated by the Treasurer, tho colony will now have to face a deficit. For this tho strikes are responsible. We believe that there arc few, if any, of the men on strike who could give an explanation of their conduct. Most of them would probably reply, bccause they wore called out by the Union. Tho directors of the TJnion thought proper to proclaim a strike, because the Union Company joined themselves to an Employers' Association, of which the leaders of tho labour party did not approve. We greatly mistake the public mind if this be considered a sufficient justification of their conduct. No one v. ill deny to labour its just share of profits in tli 5 nature of wages or otherwise, especially in a democratic country like our own. There is one thing, however, ot which labourers, when contemplating increased demands from capital, should always be careful —that their demands are reasonable. It is no figure of speech or matter of sentiment to say, that New Zealand is a Paradise for working men, and in no country under the sun was there less justification for the line of action taken. The late Commission appointed to enquire into the sweating system could find little approaching this state of things throughout the colony. With high wages, reasonable hours, find cheap living, the lot of our hard-working industrious man is surely not an unhappy one. He is relieved from the mental cart! and anxiety incident to the management of business, which is by far the most exhausting class of ■work in which a man can be engaged. The men who have been oil strike have been constrained to admit, that they had nothing of which they could in reason complain. Labourers in this colony will do well in future, before going the length cf refusing work, to satisfy themselves that they have real wrongs to redress, and that they have received unjust treatment. Without this they cannot hope for public sympathy and support.

If strikes of an unreasonable character are to obtain in tin; future, the eft'oct 011 capital will be quickly apparent. It can hardly be expected that people possessed of capital -will cure to embark in undertiikings necessitating the employment of labour if they are continually to be confronted with a strike. Labourers should remember that if by unreasonable demands and hostile action they retard trade and obstruct the commerce of the country, the greatest sufferers will bo themselves. They will find this to be too painfufully true, when they are out of employment, their funds f>.\l|austed and their wives and families applying to them for help, in vain.

There is after all iti these matters few better guides than wholesome public opinion, The Anglo-Saxon tuind instinctively onjileinns oppression, but whilst public opinion is

always ready to lend its powerful aid to those who suffer unjustly, it is also ready to censure, those who demand more than is their due.